The present invention relates to apparatus for cutting relatively large sheets of material, for example paper or cardboard, into pluralities of smaller, substantially equally sized portions.
Equipment and methods for trimming large sheets of material into smaller sheets are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,677 to Kuehfuss granted Aug. 7, 1984 shows a pile of sheets 10, aligned and then moved longitudinally by slide bars to a transverse strip cutting unit 27, where the pile of sheets is advanced in stages and cut into separate piles of strips. Individual strip piles are bundled together, after which a slide 31 moves them simultaneously toward a cutting unit 33 which, in stages, cuts the strips along a direction transverse to their movement. U.S. Pat. No. 4,203,334 to Zettler shows a conveyor table 4, or alternatively a belt 24, to longitudinally convey a sheet toward a transversely arranged blade 8. Strips cut by blade 8 are stacked, then moved in the transverse direction to be cut by a second blade 13 arranged longitudinally thereby to cross-cut the strips.
An apparatus for sectioning a large rectangular plate into smaller sections is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,135 to Ufermann et al granted July 27, 1982. A plate is moved longitudinally toward a transverse, pneumatically controlled blade 17 and cut into transverse strips. Pins 35 and 36 align each strip with respect to a pusher 7a. The pusher simultaneously moves a number of strips through a shear 2 which includes a blade arranged perpendicular to the direction of strip movement, to cut each strip into smaller sections. U.S. Pat. no. 3,224,306 to Hawley et al granted December 21, 1965 shows rotary cutters 7 and 8 for dividing a sheet 1 into longitudinal strips. The strips are stacked between divider plates 72-76, and are moved by pin cogs 12 mounted on a conveyor 9 toward further rotary cutters 15 and 16, arranged to cut parallel to the direction of strip movement. The strips are cut into individual cards, which are conveyed by belt twisters 18 into accumulators 29, after which the cards moved across a collating table 26 and thereby collated.
While perhaps satisfactory in certain respects, none of the above-described systems addresses the need for a simple and reliable apparatus for handling sheet material at high speed.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus particularly well adapted for separating sheet material into smaller sections and collating the smaller sections at high speed.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a sheet material handling apparatus having a minimum number of moving parts for enhanced reliability.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide apparatus for using gravity in collating two separate stack sections into a single stack.